A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
SAFMEDS (Say All Fast Minute Every Day Shuffled) cards are a practice and assessment procedure developed to help students learn and build fluency in key facts. SAFMEDS are used to help students become fluent in definitions and basic concepts thus making complex learning and later synthesis of concepts more likely. They facilitate paired associative learning: a learner pairs the answer on the back of the card with a statement on the front. The learner sees the front of the card says aloud the response on the back of the card and then turns the card over for immediate feedback. We have applied these principles (along with other Precision Teaching [PT] tactics) to a variety of disciplines across varying settings and with different populations. For example they were successfully implemented with undergraduates to impact a problem that a significant number of Psychology students report: poor knowledge of the basic statistical concepts and terminology required to engage with the topic area at a more advanced level. We investigated the effect of the use of SAFMEDS on the performance of Psychology undergraduates who were undertaking first year statistics and research methods; findings were positive and they have now been integrated as part of the year one undergraduate Research Methods modules. Additionally we have carried out pilot research with this same intervention to short STEM courses with children studying in local schools; initial findings are extremely positive. This presentation will disseminate these methodologies to others so that they and their students can benefit from this simple but very effective technology.
